Grit
by Vindictus
Summary: Self Insert- Because the one I was writing, I decided wasn't good enough. After dying, a young man is reborn in the Naruverse... But it wasn't what he would have expected, had anyone informed him beforehand. Beware, this fic is rated Mature for a reason


Disclaim- No, I do not own the Narutoverse, or any other character or series portrayed in this story. This disclaimer is effective for all future chapters of this story. The plot concepts and any OCs are mine, however I do not mind their being used by other writers of fanfiction at any point of time, although I would prefer it if any person who uses them contacts me in regards to it anyway.

Authors Note- This story is the reworking of the SI I had written previously, 'Oh HELL no!', or OHN for short. While I didn't get more than a couple chapters up, I did have plans. However, I am unhappy with the plans that I had, and am now reconstructing the story from the bottom up. For one thing, my SI will not be female. The only reason I had created 'Noira' was for lesbian fanservice later on. I have decided that doing so was pointless, because I can give out fanservice through other means, and it's really not the same in a written format.

Anyway, on to the story-

XXX

GRIT

by Vindictus

XXX

Warning- This is a DEATH scene, and it's a bit gorny. If you don't like gore, I suggest you skip it.

It was a dark night. A single figure peddled down a country road on an old, battered mountain bike, a large backpack slung over his shoulder. Pausing at the top of a hill taller than those around it, he slung the backpack in front of him and pulled a water bottle out. Twisting off the cap, he took a deep swig from it, swishing the fluid around his mouth before spitting it to the side. Drinking from it again, this time in smaller sips, the young man sighed.

"I understand getting a job," He began, "And I have to admit that getting money in regularly is pretty nice. What I don't get is why I can't get a _frigging ride home _from the rents! I mean, I'm helping out with the gas and food money, the least they could do is pick me up." Shaking his head, the young man capped the bottle and placed it back into his backpack, before straddling the bicycle again. "Well, at least it can't get any worse..."

As if summoned up by that declaration, a light began to shine behind the young man. Turning around, his eyes widened as he saw a monstrously huge truck speeding towards him, the man in the drivers seat barfing out of the window while the girl in shotgun laughed at him. The young man tried to leap to the side, but didn't manage to clear the truck. Instead, tires ran over his midsection, crushing his spine and internal organs and driving sharp gravel into his skin. He tried to scream, but his lungs had ruptured, robbing him of his voice. As the truck sped into the distance, apparently not even noticing what had happened, the young man tried to push himself up. After struggling for a moment, lifting his upper torso a few inches above the ground, he fell over, twisting sharply and causing a pain to shoot through his wrecked body. Craning his neck, he saw why. His entire midsection had been crushed flat and bisected, leaving his legs seperated from what was left of his torso except for a mass of twisting guts laying in a growing pool of blood. As his vision grew dark from lack of blood and oxygen, the young man noticed that the mountain bike had come out completely unharmed, and was lying in the middle of the road without a single scratch on it. As the light went out of his eyes, he wished a thousand fiery torments on it for it's mockery.

XXX

He was not aware how long he had been in the darkness. It could have been mere moments, or it could have been ten thousand years. Now, however, he could see a light growing in front of himself, shining brightly as he was pushed towards it by an organic pulsing all around him. As it drew nearer, he grew afraid. He had died... Was he going to be judged? The light at the end of the tunnel had been a belief of die-hard christian fanatics, if his memory served him right. If that was right, then he was in trouble because he most certainly wasn't a die hard christian. Or a christian of any sort, actually, and he remembered what he had read in the old testament about the christian God's opinion on those who didn't worship him. Struggling, he pulled away from the light, but he found himself suprisingly weak against the force that now pulled him forward faster and faster. As he began to be pushed through the light, his struggles redoubled, and he began crying in frustration.

_My, he's a fighter isn't he?_

His struggles slowed. That wasn't Aramaic. Actually, it sounded like Japanese.

_Whoops, looks like he's getting tired already. Um, doctor, shouldn't you be helping her push it out?_

_Hmm? Oh... Oh, yes. I probably should be. Here, I've got it Mrs Ikeda..._

Ridiculously large hands reached through the light and grabbed him firmly by the shoulders and back. Panicking, he fought against them, but to no avail as they pulled him quickly through the light and into a bright, shining place that burned his eyes with it's sheer whiteness. Blinking rapidly, he screamed and tried to cover his eyes. He paused when he realized that his scream didn't sound like himself. In fact, it rather sounded like...

_Congratulations, Mr Ikeda, Mrs Ikeda. You have a healthy baby boy. Now while we measure and wiegh him, we have some paperwork for you to fill out..._

XXX

As an infant, Katsunari Ikeda's parents knew he was different. After the day he was born, he did not cry, and his eyes would occasionally shine with an intellegence that was unnatural for one of his age. His father believed he was possesed in the womb by a malevolent spirit, and would avoid taking care of him. His mother was more kindly, but also beleived that he had been touched by the spirit world somehow. Katsunari's earliest memories were of his parents fighting- His father wanted to be rid of him, and his mother wanted to keep him. He was five when his father won the arguement and brought him and his mother to a small temple near their town, hidden in the mountains that surrounded it. By this time Katsunari's father refused to even look at the boy, who's eyes were far too intellegent and old for a child.

While this hurt Katsunari's feelings, he understood it well enough. He wasn't that man's child, not in his memories. He remembered another family, another life before this one. He had grown attached to his mother over the five years she had cared for him, and he would miss her for a while, but he would get over it. So the boy shed no tears as his mother carried him up the steps to the shrine, his father walking in front of them swiftly and rigidly. As they reached the top of the steps, Katsunari saw an old monk meditating, prayer beads wrapped around his neck and loose red robes fluttering around him. As his father walked forward, his mother set him down and looked him in the eye before speaking to him in the language he now understood, which his past live's memories told him was an unusual, slow and melodic blend of Mandarin and Japanese, but which he knew was called the Southern Mountain dialect by those who spoke it.

"Katsunari," She said, "I need to make sure you know that we love you. Your father just doesn't know how to relate to you, and he needs some time. We'll be back for you, so behave yourself while you're here, okay?"

Katsunari looked up to her and nodded once. "Yes, mother." He wasn't fooled. They wouldn't be coming back for him. Turning towards the monk again, he watched as his father finished talking.

The monk rose from his position slowly, with suprising grace for a man of his age. Nodding to the father, he walked with him back to where the boy and his mother were standing. Looking down at the boy, he smiled. "Hello, child. I understand you will be staying up here with me for a while. Is that all right with you?"

Katsunari nodded, and the monk took him by his shoulder, leading him towards the temple. He did not look back, even as he heard his mother start crying. He wasn't interested.

He knew this world. Not all of it, of course, but he had heard mention of several things he had recognized. Ninja, the Land of Fire, and Konoha. He had apparently been reborn into the Naruto series. Unfortunately, he was born a child of a minor merchant in the Kingdom of Mountains- Which he now recognized as being a different name for Earth Country- Far away from any part of the series that he knew. Still, it wouldn't be so bad. He was hearing mentions of the Fourth Hokage, which meant it couldn't be long before Konoha was attacked by the Kyuubi. That gave him a timeline, which he could work with. As he walked through halls heavily scented by a pungent incense, he allowed himself a small grin. He had a plan.

But for a while, he would remain here. After all, he was sure to find something to learn from monks in a land apparently based off of ancient China and Japan.

XXX

Ten years passed quickly. Katsunari, now known by the few other children at the temple as Kats, was getting impatient.

He had assumed that the Fourth was only in office a few short years before the Kyuubi attacked, and that he would be able to sneak into a caravan headed to Konoha shortly afterwards. Instead, he had spent ten years, to the day, learning what the monks had to teach him. It wasn't a total loss- He now knew how to seal objects and minor spirits [Which he had been suprised to discover were real, although considering the setting he should have guessed], and one of the monks had been a soldier and had taught him to use a sword he had found- for self defence purposes only, he had assured the monk- but most of it seemed worthless to him. He could hold his own against a group of bandits, or against a relatively weak malevolent spirit, but he remembered the things he had seen the protagonist do in his past life. Teleportation, leaping through the trees like a monkey on crack, and attacks capable of leveling large trees... He had nothing to compare. So he requested permission to go on a pilgrimage. When the request was accepted, he took a few weeks worth of food, two small jugs of water, his sword, a spare change of robes, and a sturdy staff.

The travel was hard. He was looking for something very specific- a Greater spirit, to enter into a pact with. He had spent hours in the library looking for ways to gain power quickly, and to make a pact with a spirit seemed to be the most practical. He would preform tasks for the spirit, and would in exchange be given favors of his own. Of course, it could be done the other way around, but Kats had no intention of becoming indebted to a spirit- It seemed an explicitly stupid act.

After a few months searching, scavenging off of the land and raiding small bandit camps for food, Kats found what he was looking for- An old, abandoned shrine with a statue of a young, androgynous looking individual clad in a loincloth, a goatskin, and a mask either fashioned to look like a goat skull or out of a goat skull sat cross legged on a small stone platform. Searching through his pack, he pulled out a small jug he had picked up during his travels, filled with what he assumed was either rum or a very strong wine. Pouring it into a bowl left at the base of the statue, Kats sat down and settled into meditation, waiting for the spirit this shrine was built to venerate noticed. Idly, he wondered what type of spirit it was. The statue didn't give any hints as to gender, so that was either considered unimportant by the worshipers or the spirit didn't have any attachment to a particular gender. The skins and skull signified a close bond to nature, while the human appearance implied the bond was not that close- Otherwise, the spirit would have presumably appeared to be an animal. As he thought, Kats did not notice the alchohol being drawn up the statue, drawing itself into the eyes of the mask. As the last bit of alchohol was drawn into the statue, the eyes lit up with a bright green light. With a rumbling, the statue moved from it's position, standing up and regarding Kats.

Kats did not notice the statue's motion, which caused it to gaze at him blankly for a few moments before coughing sharply. At the noise, Kats's eyes opened and snapped to the statue. Quickly, he moved from the cross-legged seating position he had been in to a low bow before the statue.

"Oh, great spirit, I apologize for not noticing your prescence. Please forgive this humble mortal..."

**"Oh, do shut up." **The statue rumbled, **"I'm not in the mood to hear any sniveling. It has been a long time since I was summoned to this realm, and I wish to hear what reason you have for disturbing me."**

Katsunari raised himself off of the ground somewhat, but remained kneeling. "Great spirit, I have searched for one such as yourself for many months now. I wish to enter into a pact with you- I will do a favor for you, so long as you agree to repay me for it in a way of my choosing.

**"Of your choosing?"** The eyes of the statue pulsed with a magnificent light. **"I do not think that you know the powers you are dealing with, mortal. Still, as you amuse me with your impertinance, I will ask you- What is it that you desire from me?"**

"I desire power, great one." Kats had been planning this exposition for a long time. "I seek power too-"

**"I do not care why you seek power," **The statue interjected. **"It really does not matter to me. I will grant this to you, mortal- a taste of the power I posess. All I require is that you hunt and kill in My Name, and that a portion of what you kill is dedicated to Me. In return, for every kill you will grow stronger and faster, and if I feel you are reverant enough, and see that you are not wasting my powers on pathetic quarry or wasting the spoils of the kill, I will grant you more gifts."**

Katsunari looked at the statue carefully. He was expecting something less.. Well, worshippy. Still it wasn't that bad of a deal. He'd been hunting for food quite often, and hadn't been too shabby at it, or so he thought at least... He had kept himself fed. "I agree, great spirit. But I do request one final peice of information- What is your name?"

**"I am known by many names,"** The statue declared. **"I have been called Cernunnos and Artemis, Horned Lord of the Wild Hunt and The Lady Who Stalks the Night... But you, my newest child- You may call me Hircine."** As the statue stopped talking, the green light pulsed in it's eyes before blasting out, boring into Kats' body, first through his eyes and mouth but quickly discovering his other orfices, blasting in through is nose, his ears, and even the pores of his skin. He felt it, burning inside of him, even as he fell down onto the ground, even as he heard the statue settling back down into a sitting position, even as he saw a single wolf-dog rising from the stone to stand next to the statue through the corner of his eye.

And then there was darkness once more, and silence.

XXX

AN- Bet you weren't seeing that crossover coming. Actually, it was rather spur of the moment to have Hircine instead of a generic woodland spirit, but it fits what I was planning for Kats.

Anyway, prologue done- I'm not going to tell you exactly what I'm planning on doing, but I will say that it's going to be fairly unique amongst Naruto fics. Until someone copies me, of course. Then again, I don't think Dragonborn ever got copied, and nobody's sending me Email about wanting to copy it yet... Hmm.

Anyway, I'm planning on worldbuilding a bit, this is just a prologue to set the tone for the piece. Felt a little stilted writing it, but that was because I'm trying to keep this more serious and plot oriented than, say, Dragonborn [With it's Wacky Hijinx Adventures!], and I really didn't have a chance to give my SIOC any deadpan... He was trying to impress the only time he really got into a conversation. Tell me, would you deadpan in a job interview? What about if it was with a Greater Spirit, which is basically a minor Dimigod? Eh, I didn't think so.


End file.
